Happy Aguinaldo Day!

First time I visited this place in years! A lot has change, it was better thanks to NHI except for the hispanophobic remarks in some of the items inside the museum ( Banditry/Panunulisan was the result of the Spanish rule - this is absurd!). Other than this, bravo to the local and national agencies for the improvement of the shrine.

Today is Aguinaldo day. Holiday in the whole Cavite province, normal day to us outside Cavite.

This tells you where Aguinaldo is in the pantheon of Filipino heroes.

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A blogger once asked why we don’t have an Aguinaldo day. We do have but its seem to be celebrated exclusively by his beloved Cavitenos. For all the negative connotation Cavitismo had in the past, at least this trait never failed to remember their great idol. March 22 by the way is also the same day Aguinaldo won the Tejeros convention aside from being his birth day.

After the fall of his revolutionary government, the assasination of known allies (the first political killings in Filipino history) and surrender to the Americans – he gradually fell from critical favor – his reputation never fully recovered. The final nail was when he was soundly defeated by his former soldier Quezon in the first election.

Historians like Ocampo suggest that he lived too long, declining into a sad old age – if he died in the battle fields his story would’ve been an epic, just like that of Boni and Pepe.

This day would’ve been a national holiday.

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As I approached Binakayan, I suddenly remembered the days when my Father would wake us up or call our attention because we are nearing the Aguinaldo mansion. The road use to pass by the mansion, now it has been redirected since a park was created to honor the General.

The park was a fitting tribute not only to Aguinaldo but the proclamation of Philippine Independence. The reality at that time was that we’re still not free, we have not gotten rid of the Colonials but it was a brave thing to do – its like Taiwan proclaiming independence from motherland China (which up to this point has not been done for fear of being crushed by the red giant).

Mabini opposed this proclamation, as he feared that we are revealing our intentions prematurely which puts us into a disadvantageous position against the Yanks who conquered a nation just by just controlling Manila and the important ports of its bay.

I think that it’s strange that they continue to portrait that a flag waving Aguinaldo declaring Philippine independence in his balcony. The Binense Rianzares-Bautista authored and read the proclamation. Not that its really that important, you have to expect some degree of historical inaccuraccies.In our case, more than the usual amount.

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The events that took place in Kawit should be studied, discussed and analyzed. There’s much that we can learn from it.

2 responses to “Happy Aguinaldo Day!”

@ Jun – Gen. San Miguel easily one of my favorite Generals of the revolution, along with Sacay, Ricarte, Luna. I had the same opinion of Gen. Aguinaldo when I was younger – his failures and faults were pivotal events that led to us being conquered and subjugated by a new foreign enemy. Its easy for us to judge these events, we have the hindsight, they didn’t – it was the hardest of times. So we learn from history and move on like the proud Filipinos that we are. There are no greater threats to our Filipinismo than forgetting what happened. Aguinaldo, for all his faults and flaws, led in a difficult time, when the rest was looking for a leader, the young Cauiteno abandoned the life of ease and comfort and pursued his dream of freeing his people.